Viewers ‘mind-blown’ after seeing first ever cartoon to win an Oscar
Topics: Disney, Oscars, Film and TV, Viral, Instagram
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Disney
Topics: Disney, Oscars, Film and TV, Viral, Instagram
With all the animated movies vying for recognition nowadays, film fans have had their minds blown by the first cartoon deemed worthy of an Oscar.
It feels like it's been yonks since the Academy Awards were first introduced in 1929, and since then hundreds of movies have been awarded in a whole host of different categories.
The areas in which filmmakers can win have only grown as technology has become more advanced, and in 1932 the Academy felt it was time to bring in a new category: Best Short Subject (Cartoons).
Advert
These days, we call it 'Best Animated Short'.
There were three nominees for the category on the year it was introduced, and I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that the majority of them came from Walt Disney.
It was indeed Disney that took the win that year with its short titled Flowers and Trees; an eight-minute film showing cartoon trees and woodland creatures attempting to escape bouncing flames caused by another, evil tree.
The short earned a Guinness World Record for becoming the first cartoon to win an Oscar, though it also made history by being Disney's first animated film in color.
Looking back at the short more than 90 years later, film fans have shared their thoughts on the winning creation.
"1932 and hand made, that's just mind-blowing. Imagine what Walt Disney could do with nowadays technology," one person wrote.
Another added: "Imagine seeing this in 1932, I bet it blew their minds," while a third commented: "Actually a dope cartoon."
Flowers and Trees wasn't the only success Walt Disney had at the 1932 Oscars, because having created the now-iconic Mickey Mouse four years earlier, the film producer was also awarded an Honorary Oscar for the character.
Mickey was actually the subject of one of the other shorts nominated alongside Flowers and Trees in 1932, as he starred in a Christmas-themed short titled Mickey’s Orphans.
In the short, Mickey and Minnie Mouse had to try and attempt to control the chaos caused by a collection of little kittens.
The third and final nominee was the only one not made by Disney, and instead came from Leon Schlesinger Production.
Titled It’s Got Me Again!, the short featured a collection of mice giving hell to a cat - interestingly a storyline which was essentially the reverse of Mickey's Orphans.
Walt Disney himself passed away in 1966, but he personally managed to rack up an impressive collection of 22 Oscars during his career, the record for Oscars won by an individual.
You can watch Flowers and Trees in full here.